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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Author Interview - Mike Dolan

Today, we’re on location in Hawaii because this is Mike’s favorite place. We’ve leaned his surf board against one the trees and he’s come to sit and chat with us for a bit. Grab yourself a coconut cup filled with an icy refreshment and make yourself comfortable. Mike, I want to thank you for allowing us this time with you. How gracious of you to share a bit of Hawaii with us!

Deanna: Readers, Mike Dolan was born in the mile-high city of Denver, Colorado 43 years ago. He has lived all around this beautiful world of ours, from Europe to Alaska, to his current home in the Middle East. His education is that of the experiences life gives and school is far from being out for him. He is a lover of life, a life adventurist. He loves to travel, meet new people, and experience new cultures. He has been given a great opportunity to see life in a different light and wishes to share this with you.Mike, you’ve traveled extensively and stay very busy. Tell us a bit about yourself that our readers might not know?

Mike: Most readers know about my past and my travels. They know that those experiences shaped my writing. However, they don't know about my love of Hawaii and surfing. I love the Hawaiian life so much that I have a website that feeds my passion. Come and visit it at www.hawaiianlife.com.

Deanna: What made you want to become a writer?

Mike: For the last 10 years, I have kept journals about my travels and my experiences all over the world. Over time, I realized that the things I have learned through my experiences could help other people. My journals were my research and the idea for a book was born. My purpose is to have the best life I can possibly have and to inspire others to live their lives to the fullest so they too can have a rich life, A Pecunious Life.

Deanna: As authors, most of us read in the same genre we write but you write non-fiction. Do you read in the same genre?

Mike: Yes, I primarily read non-fiction. I've always been an avid reader, but I've always preferred reading to learn something as opposed to just reading for entertainment. In this pursuit I started to read about Leonardo DaVinci, Nikola Tesla, Steven Hawking, and others. I was reading Napoleon Hill, Norman Vincent Peale, Wayne Dryer, Deepak Copra. Right now I am reading: David Hawkins Power Vs. Force.

Deanna: That's a bit of deep reading, Mike. Tell us about a typical day in your life as a writer.

Mike: For me writing early in the morning in a sun drenched window is the best place to be. The house is quiet and most of the time my mind is still empty of “other” distracting thoughts which allows me to let the writing flow. I get my pot of coffee going, gather my pad of paper and half dozen different colored pens and I just start with what comes to mind and go from there.

Genre: Self-Help
Publisher: Infinity Publishing
ISBN:0741458195

Deanna: Tell us a bit about what we’ll find in your book.

Mike: When I learned a lesson that helped me live my life to the fullest, I take that lesson and share it in my writing. The losses we suffer are of zero consequence if we have never lived in the moments that we are given. This life is filled with everything we know and everything we don’t know. It is our journey in life to live, to live every moment as if it was our last. I don’t want to waste one moment I have here.

I want to tell the world that a better way to live is out there. A more successful life is out there for all of us, if we will just stop and realize life is a gift. The people in our lives, even the ones we have yet to know, are all important to us. We need to stop and appreciate, love, respect, and fill our lives with them. We have no time to be lifeless, no time to be self-centered, no time to hoard our thoughts and feelings for all those around us. We need to give more of ourselves before it’s too late. From the friends we have as children to the clerk at the gas station, we need to let everyone in our lives know that it’s okay, that we remember and cherish the moments we share.

This doesn’t mean you have to walk into the gas station and tell the clerk behind the counter all these thoughts, but you do need to come from a position of love and respect for all that you come in contact with, including that clerk. How much time have we lost? How much of this life will we have to lose before we realize that this life is fragile, that in a moment it can be gone, that the people dearest in your life can and are taken before we know it.

Here is more of Mike in his own words:

Beliefs come from our past experiences and the culmination of past generations’ experiences. Believing gives us the capacity to make our lives more organized so that we don’t have to continuously try to understand our surroundings. Not all our beliefs, however, are positive in nature. In fact, the majority of our beliefs limit our own abilities to understand more of the world around us. Any belief that is limiting that defines someone or a group of people will limit our ability to open ourselves up for more experiences that could lead to a greater cooperation, a greater understanding, a more peaceful existence, and perhaps even new budding relationships. To understand an example of this you need only look inside yourself. What belief do you have that might be limiting? I could come up with examples, but each life experience is different and therefore the beliefs we each hold are different. The challenge, then, is to examine your own beliefs and find reasons to change them into something that will lend to a better understanding of this life.

Limiting beliefs can be ingrained in other areas of our lives as well. It was thought for the longest time that we would never be able to fly, we do. It was thought for the longest time that it was impossible for the human to run a mile in under four minute, we have. The examples of our defeatist beliefs being dissolved exist all around us. Some of our beliefs limit our experiences and lend our thoughts to be more narrow minded and less capable of greater accomplishments.

“You as the master of your thoughts can change the ideas you believe in.”MLD

Review of A Pecunious Life - How to Have a Life Abounding in True Wealth

The book A Pecunious Life written by Author Mike Dolan has great advice for improving ones life, not only does the author write details of how to become more wealthy, but he incorporates his own experiences which are woven into lessons of life quality. Learning from the past, learning from mistakes, learning from beliefs or mis-beliefs, life-altering events, and exercises where the author asks you to sit in a quiet place and reflect on the lessons given.

The book is not really about becoming wealthy in the money sense, but wealthy in the spiritual and happiness sense. Could we be happy with less? Happiness is a state of mind.

I found this educational and easy to read and recommend it to adults in need of self-help, spiritual guides, and for people who need a better life than they have right now.

Deanna: You seem very sincere in your wish to help all of us to enrich our own lives a little more. Thank you so much, Mike. I hope this isn't the last interview stop for you. I look forward to seeing your name a lot more out there. Is there anything else you would like to share with us today?

Mike:Deanna, Thank you for the opportunity to share my book - A Pecunious Life on your blog. Yes, I would like to offer a book give away to three of the readers out there. They need to do a few things to be eligible:

- Comment on this interview here on your blog.

- Mention the interview on their Facebook page and give methe link in the comment.

Deanna: You heard it, readers! For those who want in on this, hop to those sites, copy the links and come back here to post your comments! On your mark, get set.....GO!!! See you back here in a few! I'll refresh your drinks and have them ready for you when you return!